Team Thomson News & Notes
December 18, 2017
Important Information for You!
Here's wishing you and yours a Very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!
I hope that you have time during the holidays to spend with family and friends...relaxing, laughing, and having fun!
Be Merry,
Natalie
An Uplifting Story for your Holidays
I am always so amazed by the giving spirit of our staff during the holidays and this year was no different. We choose to help families without always knowing what happens with our gifts and donations. We give in hopes that we are providing not only a happy holiday, but also a little hope for the family that things will get better. Earlier this month I was contacted by a family that we helped in the past. The mother and her two daughters are in a very different place this year financially then there were in previous years. She shared with me that she has not forgotten the help we gave her family and that this year they were paying it forward and helping a single dad and his little boy by adopting them for the holidays. What an amazing gift!
Again, thank you for your generosity throughout this holiday season.
Christmas Vacation Shut-Down
While I am sure that an email will come out later this week. I wanted to take a minute to remind you that you will need to 'shut down' your classrooms for the holiday break by unplugging all electronics except your computers and projectors. This means...lamps, coffee makers, CD players, refrigerators, etc throughout the building should/will be unplugged. Please make sure you take care of your classroom, offices, and workspaces. Please also make sure that all of your items are removed from the staff lounge refrigerator by the end of the day Friday or they will be thrown away! Thanks for your help with this.
News from the Tech Department—A Cautionary Tale
The district had an incident recently where a teacher had been allowing students to use their computer, while it was logged in to the teacher's user account, in order to give presentations the students had created in Google. After the presentations were done, the students did not sign out of Chrome and the teacher continued using the computer for normal teacher activities, including Synergy and Gmail. This sounds harmless, but since Chrome was still signed in under a student's Google account, all the teachers passwords were saved under that account and available to the student when they logged in, on any device, with their Google account. Luckily, the tech department caught it before anything bad happened and was able to reset the teacher's passwords. In cases where you may have students sharing presentations on the classroom projector, students can either share their presentations to the teacher’s account and display them from there, or better yet, use Google Classroom. In general, staff members should always make sure they are logged into Chrome with the correct account before accessing web resources that contain sensitive information. Not doing so could lead to FERPA issues. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know and we can check with Chris Lesko.
Quotes Worth Reading
"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something!"
-Neil Gaiman
"Our uniqueness, our individuality, and our life experience molds us into fascinating beings. I hope we can embrace that. I pray we may all challenge ourselves to delve into the deepest resources of our hearts to cultivate an atmosphere of understanding, acceptance, tolerance, and compassion. We are all in this life together."
-Linda Thompson
Thomson Elementary
Home of the Thomson Teddies!
And..
Where Kids Come First and Futures Begin!
Email: nmiller@davisonschools.org
Website: www.davisonschools.org
Location: 617 East Clark Street, Davison, MI, United States
Phone: 810-591-0911
Celebrations & Announcements
Birthdays...Christine Henderson, December 20th; Rhonda Seidell, December 22nd; Leandra Lints, December 23rd; Justine Salina, December 23rd; and Denise Delay, December 27th...Happy Birthday to You All!
Make sure to see the flyer about the 'Five Days of Christmas'...if you missed it, please stop by the office.
Important Upcoming Dates:
- Monday, December 18th-Handsome Harry visits; PTO meeting-CANCELLED.
- Tuesday, December 19th-Handsome Harry visits; Staff Luncheon put on by the Office Staff
- Friday, December 22nd-Christmas Vacation begins at the end of the day!
- Wednesday, January 3rd-School Resumes!
- Thursday, January 4th-Elementary Principals Meeting (Natalie)
- Monday, January 8th-Kick-off for the 'Golden Lunch Box' lesson...please look for a schedule from our behavior committee; Board of Education Meeting, 7:00 p.m. H.S. AMR
- Tuesday, January 9th-DIBELS Testing
- Wednesday, January 10th-Staff Meeting, 7:35 a.m. (Agenda: School Improvement/Mini QAR, Success Criteria); DIBELS Testing
- Thursday, January 11th-STAR Testing; General Admin. Meeting (Natalie); ELA Meeting 4:15-6:15 p.m.
- Friday, January 12th-STAR Testing
- Monday, January 15th-Martin Luther King Day, NO SCHOOL